Announcing new release: Birkas Hachamo, “Blessing of the Sun”

NOW HEAR THIS: JEMnationblog is delighted to announce the release, in the near future, of a new and exciting video featuring the rare and esoteric once-in-28-year mitzvah, Birkas Hachamo.

The video will feature an intro with some background on the sun’s significance in Jewish life and history and the meaning behind the practice. The centerpiece will be the last performance of Birkas Hachamo, in 1981, together with the Rebbe. At the time, the Rebbe called for making a big event out of it, because of its rarity and the fact that it was a hakhel year. The four sichos the Rebbe said at the time are translated and subtitled, edited from three video sources, two audio sources, and since all that just isn’t enough (there are still a bunch of periods of “bad” footage), supplemented with never-before-seen pictures.